"The Way Life Should Be" by Terry Shaw

Warning to mystery fans:  Throw away your tasseled bookmarks for this whodunit.  It's that kind of pager-turner.

The sign says, "Welcome to Maine-The Way Life Should Be."

But for a quaint little town called Stone Harbor, this is apparently not the case.  After a long absence, John Quinn, family man and newspaper editor, returns to his hometown amidst speculation, only to find that his best friend has been murdered in a park well known as a gay pickup spot.

The mark of a great mystery writer is drawing up several plausible suspects and keeping us in the dark until the very end.  Terry Shaw has mastered that art.  His novel had me vacillating between suspects from chapter to chapter right up to the heart-pounding conclusion.  Even Sherlock Holmes would've been scratching his head.

While setting the stage for suspicion, Terry Shaw immersed me in small-town politics, quirky characters, the local tourism scene, and colorful dialect, mustering all the charms of small-town America rife with big-city problems.  I found myself rooting for John Quinn in his quest to find his best friend's killer.  The author scored major points by lacing his wonderful brand of humor throughout this thoroughly engaging read.

Terry Shaw is a skilled whodunit craftsman whose time has come.

And that, folks, is the way life should be.

Author!  Author!

~~~~~~~~~~

First chapter of "The Way Life Should Be"

Terry Shaw's video

Terry Shaw's website

Interview with Terry Shaw by Kathryn Eplin-Oleski